


Can you believe?

by Arwen88



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-22
Updated: 2019-07-22
Packaged: 2020-07-10 21:03:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19912162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arwen88/pseuds/Arwen88
Summary: Locked in his own basement, Percival mulls over what kind of person he must be to his colleagues' eyes if they can't tell the difference between him and Grindelwald.When he stops believing that any of them would come to his rescue, a stranger arrives.





	Can you believe?

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the LDF "CowT" challenge in 2018, but now I finally went around to get it checked.  
> Thanks to Winterwolke for beta reading this <3  
> English is not my mother language, so any remaining mistake is my fault, sorry about that.
> 
> Note: I was inspired for the universe by this post http://zakuro-san.tumblr.com/post/76058615482/based-on-this-post-satinhands-no-but-imagine

It took some time, but in the end Percival stopped fighting the cuffs and chains that trapped him in his own basement.  
He tried everything for at least a week or two. With no windows and no natural light, there was actually no way to know how long he had been there, prisoner of Grindelwald in his own house. With time he ceased fighting, though hoping against hope that the man would stop torturing him, that he would just kill him and be done with it. 

But the dark wizard wanted him alive and kicking: to take new hair off his head for his Polyjuice Potion, to take new informations out of his mind and new horrified screams out of his throat. When he stopped fighting back, Grindelwald was finally satisfied. He said there was nothing more he could take from him that was even worth the bother.

Percival wasn't sure if the worst thing was to feel like he had failed his office and the wizarding world by giving up his memories, or if it was to find out that none of his colleagues had yet come looking for him. The same people he would have called friends, the ones he had told Grindelwald was looking for him, had been utterly fooled.

With enough time alone to mull it, Percival found himself wondering where and when he had crossed his Aurors, how had he failed them so much that no one would actually see through the illusion, understand that it was not really him sitting in his office. 

But apparently no one noticed a thing or had really ever tried to get to know him, regarding him not as a friend or as someone who genuinely cared about them all. To them he was probably just a hardass, a cold-hearted man who would not hesitate before firing some of them for little mistakes, who would apply the book by the letter even when it was clearly wrong by a moral point of view.

The first weeks Grindelwald had tried to shake him up using hope, hinting that someone was on him for something cruel he had done using Percival's face. But then he would laugh and say it was just a joke, that they weren't probably that much different from each other since no one would question his decisions to have petty criminals, that had always acted as informants, now imprisoned.

A couple times Grindelwald had even bothered to create an illusion just to get him worked up. He would enter the basement passing himself as one of the Aurors, faking being there to free him, only to laugh and reveal himself when Percival would reach out to have the handcuffs taken away.  
He had quickly learned that all those people coming to his rescue were only tricks and illusions to torture him, and in the end he had stopped reacting for them, waiting in resignation for Grindelwald to tire and be done, to just leave him alone.

It wasn't that Percival had lost all hope in escaping Grindelwald at some point, not really. He was too stubborn to give up on the idea of finding a weak point in the dark wizard's plan and getting himself free. Just to go and tear a new one in his subordinates for not noticing there was something deeply wrong in the guy strolling around the Woolworth Building, presenting himself as Percival. 

Then he would take the longest hot bath of his life, but only after jinxing Grindelwald to the tomb.

He knew, though, that, as time stretched without him getting rescued, chances of somebody finally piecing it together were growing slimmer with every good Auror Grindelwald transferred away, with every informant starting to hate him. It was a somber thought, that not even his friends among the Aurors really knew him. If they had really been his friends, after all. 

It wasn't that he didn't hold any hope for a rescue, but more that he had seen the glee in Grindelwald’s eyes every time Percival reacted to his illusions and he really didn't want to give him any more pleasure. 

Things would have been different, he knew, if instead he did have a family around him. Somebody waiting for him at home. Somebody that truly cared for him enough to notice if he subtly developed a genocidal mania overnight.

Percival had no idea how much time had passed since he had been imprisoned. Since he was suspended in time with magic, not even his beard was growing, giving even the smallest hint. Grindelwald had thought of everything and anything that could make his life more difficult.

One day the door opened and there was a person in the room Percival didn't even remember ever meeting. He tried not to react to the apparition, certain it was another trick, but he watched as the wizard approached him quickly, kneeling down in front of him.

"Director, everything will be alright…" he promised, and it was all Percival could do not to snort in his face.  
The wizard seemed troubled by his unresponsiveness, and started to try and unlock his cuffs with murmured spells, but they didn’t work on the chains trapping him.

Percival limited himself to watch the man's profile, trying to understand where he had seen him before, since every fake identity Grindelwald had assumed so far came from his memory, but he couldn't for the life of him remember ever meeting the wizard.

The accent said British, and some of his features reminded Percival of someone he had met many years ago, during the war, but they were clearly not the same person.  
Percival was actually kind of curious about why Grindelwald had decided to impersonate a ginger, lean, British wizard who looked like he was growing more frustrated by the second. Yet, he had no intention to speak and give Grindelwald the satisfaction of tricking him once more.

"I - I don't know what-"  
The wizard stopped, almost as if he wanted to hide that he was losing the battle against the chains. He pursed his lips for a moment before reaching into his pocket to take out a bowtruckle and get it closer to the cuffs.  
"If this doesn't work-" he started, clearly frustrated. 

His eyes went wide as suddenly Percival's chest started to cast a soft light.  
Even Percival held his breath at that, staring in shock at the British wizard in front of him whose chest was now glowing just the same.

None of them said a word, staring at each other as the light coming from their hearts enveloped them, casting away the shadows of the basement, letting them see the features of their soulmates better.

It was ancient magic, the purest to ever exist. No dark magic could ever hope to copy that trick, leading a wizard into thinking that he had met his soulmate in someone who was not the right person.

Just now, at the darkest point of his life, Percival had finally found his soulmate. He could barely wrap his mind around it, staring speechless at the other wizard.

All his life, since he was a kid, he had dreamed about that moment, wondering what was he gonna tell the other, how they were gonna be. He had promised himself he would have been the best partner for them, promised himself he would have been their rock, the one to make them feel safe.

He had refused many offers of relationships during the years - most of which he actually thought were done because he came from a powerful and rich lineage - because he wanted to be single by the time he met his soulmate.  
And there he was, not only single but alienated from the rest of the world, and not in any position to be anyone's rock.

But he would have been the person his soulmate needed if given the chance.

He tried drinking in every detail of the man in front of him, feeling his heart race at the knowledge that they had finally managed to meet. Even if it was in the worst possible conditions.

Without thinking he gently took the wizard's free hand between his owns, rubbing circles over calloused fingers that spoke of a life doing hard work, over the pulse point in his wrist. He was unable to repress the faintest smile at feeling the man's heart beat as fast as his own was.  
There was so much he wanted to know of the other man, and yet no words would get out of his mouth.

Percival was shaken from his stupor at the sound of familiar footsteps coming from above their heads and he reached out without even thinking, taking the wizard's face in his hands.

"You have to go..." he breathed, desperate at the thought of Grindelwald coming back and capturing his soulmate.  
But the young man shook his head, staring at him with wide eyes as he tried throwing every spell he knew at the unrelenting chains while the bowtruckle looked for a key hole that he could pick on. They were clearly growing frustrated at every second more not finding any opening for them to free Percival.

"No, I can't leave you here..." he whispered, frustrated to the point of desperation.  
Percival shook his head, trying to make the man look him in the eyes. 

"Please," he begged, his voice cracking. "Leave. I can endure anything he’ll throw at me if only I know for sure that you're out there, away from him."  
He had no idea who the wizard was, no idea how the man had managed to find him, but now that he knew he actually had a soulmate, someone brave enough to enter the den of the lion, fully knowing that something was actually wrong with the director, probably already having guessed it was Grindelwald under the facade. Percival needed to know the man would not endanger himself only to save him.

It made the wizard stop and suddenly Percival had blue bright eyes holding his gaze, the pale and slender hands gently covering his own in a gentle caress.

For a moment Percival thought that he had never seen someone as handsome as his soulmate, before the British wizard leaned in to give him a chaste kiss on the lips.  
He closed his eyes at the kiss, feeling like he was able to take a breath for the first time in months. He tried to commit that moment to his memory.

He knew that whatever would happen, he could deal with it just by holding on to that memory.

"My name is Newt," the wizard whispered, so close that Percival could feel his warm breath on his skin.

He couldn't help but smile at finally knowing the name of the soulmate he had been waiting for all his life. Even if it was hard, he let the man go, watching as Newt stood up, his eyes still on him. With a step back, Newt disapparated away, leaving Percival alone in the basement, the glow in his chest dying out and the shadows enveloping him once more.

The door opened and Grindelwald stepped inside, his eyes on his prisoner, but there was nothing to betray the fact that someone else had been there, aside for the way Percival's shoulders were not burdened by desperation anymore.


End file.
